The pictures here are all from a different era. I couldn't find anything on the net to illustrate the particular modern fight I have in mind. Oh well, they're kind of interesting for their own sake.
Anyway, It's tough being a corner man in mixed martial arts. How do you stand out on TV and make a reputation? It's a job that everybody takes for granted...until now. I saw a fight on John's HD Net on Friday night where the corner man stole the show.
The man cornered for an African American guy...I wish I could remember the name. he was a terrific fighter, but had the handicap of being a gentle intellectual who'd rather be with his books. You could tell he deeply regretted the necessity of hurting other fighters. He was like Ferdinand The Bull, if you know that story. The other guys on the bill all strutted in to the tune of gangster rap. This guy entered to classical music. I didn't recognize it, but it was something pastoral that suggested sniffing daisies in a meadow.
At the entrance to the ring his corner man, who was huge, turned around and began to insult the fighter. Right there on TV they got into a nose-to-nose shouting match. I'm not sure, but the corner man might even have slapped the fighter. The fighter got madder and madder, til he pushed the corner man aside and stomped into the ring, ready to tear apart anybody who got in his way. It looked to me like the corner man deliberately provoked him.
Like I said, the formerly gentle fighter was skilled, but his opponent was even better. At the round breaks the battered gentle guy would slink back to the corner where the derisive corner man would reinvigorate him by insulting him some more and throwing Gatorade in his face.
Regretfully the gentle man lost. I thought the whole drama was over, but there was one more act waiting to play out. His cocky opponent, the winner, came over to our guy's corner, put his arm around the corner man, and proceeded to chat the corner man up. I couldn't believe it! It looked like he was offering the corner man a job working for him. Our guy sat on the stool watching all this and was completely dumbfounded.
I know what you're thinking...that this was all staged to get a laugh. Maybe, but I don't think so. It looked like a real fight.
Something "pastoral", like Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony ?
ReplyDeleteThat's an incerdible story by the way. The world is going mad !
I think I know exactly what kind of fight you're talking about (sort of, but at least I can visualize it). My dad back in the fall had HBO on all the time, and he'd watch all the pay-per-view boxing matches, specifically one featuring Floyd Mayweather and some other guy (Ortiz maybe, can't remember, but it was back in September). Not really much of a comment, I know, but that's what came to my mind.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I finally got a new library card, so I'll be able to read that book I mentioned in the previous post. I want to see what all the fuss is about. The story sounds very like Metropolis in a lot of ways. Lot of random, popular trends coming out of nowhere like the Temple Run app on the iPhone or even Occupy Wall Street. Can't keep up with them all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUaClclJvtE&feature=related this guy would be really fun to animate, love the contrast between how much he moves and the emotion on his face compared to how super rigid the posture and facial expressions are on most classical guitarists.
ReplyDeleteLouis: Haw! Good guess, but it wasn't that.
ReplyDeleteRoberto: I just got the book from the libray. We can compare notes! Thanks again for the tip!
Anon: Wow! He's great! I bookmarked it so I can see what his other videos are like. Thanks!